Wednesday, 12 November 2014

The Commission, headed by its Chairman, Justice Shri A. K. Mathur, proposes to visit Hyderabad from 18th to 20th November, 2014. The Commission would like to invite various entities/associations/federations representing any/all categories of employees covered by the terms of reference of the Commission to present their views.

Your request for a meeting with the Commission may be sent through e-mail to the Secretary, 7th Central Pay Commission at secy-7cpc@nic.in. The memorandum already submitted by the requesting entity may also be sent as an attachment with this e-mail.

The last date for receiving request for meeting is 17th Nov. 2014 (1700 hours).

Employees at Ordnance Factories (OF) – who have been contesting their omission from the benefits of the sixth pay commission for over seven years have finally more than one reason to rejoice.

Reining in the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ at public offices, the Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to grant pay parity to employees in the OF with that of identically ranked official in the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) and Central Secretariat Stenographer’s Service (CSSS).

The direction will be applied retrospectively from 2006 — when the sixth CPC was implemented. Not only this, the HC order will come in handy for the employees of the OF when the seventh central pay commission is implemented.

The HC order came in response to a petition filed by Ordnance Factory Employees Association challenging the decision of the finance ministry declining their request for the assistants working in the OF Board to be given same pay scale as was given to similarly placed officials in CSS, CSSS, Ar my Headquarters, UPSC and other services.

The starting point of discrimination against the employees of the OF Board came soon before the acceptance of recommendation of the sixth CPC when a pay upgradation of employees of CSS and CSSS was made in September 2006.

While the OFs and Armed Forces Head Quarters (AFHQs) — both non-secretariat organization — were excluded from the pay upgradation, the latter took the matter to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and got an order in its favour.

In the case of OF Board, the central government took the view that since it was a nonattached office working outside the Secretariat, there cannot be parity of pay scales. The OF Board was denied benefit of upgradation and the replacement scales given by the sixth CPC. The CAT, too, took a similar stand and denied any relief to the OF Board.

The matter finally reached the Delhi HC last year and after over a year of deliberation a bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Vipin Sanghi termed the discrimination meted out to the OF Board as “over-classification.”

The HC said the discrimination was illogical and artificial. It also took note that the cadre structure of CSS and CSSS is identical to that of the OF. In all the above organisations, the cadre of upper divisional clerks (UDCs) is filled by the feeder of the cadre of the lower divisional clerks (LDCs).

The cadre of assistants on the OF Board is filled by promotion from the feeder cadre of UDCs with at least five years of experience on regular basis.

“The OF Board was treated historically as equals to CSS/CSSS employees and enjoyed equal pay and all benefits flowing from equal pay,” the high court noted adding, “This was based on the previous four instances of determinations by successive pay commissions that they performed equal work.”

The Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) is a constitutional authority appointed by the President of India under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. The duties & powers of the CAG are prescribed in the Articles 149-151 of the Constitution of India. The Parliament under Article 149 of the Constitution has enacted the Comptroller & Auditor General’s (Duties, Power and Condition of Service) (CAG’s DPC Act) Act, 1971 replacing the earlier Government of India (Audit & Accounts) Order 1936.

MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (Department of Personnel and Training)

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 31st October, 2014

G.S.R. 769(E).- In exercise of the
powers conferred by the proviso co article 309 and clause (5) of article
148 of the Constitution, and after consultation with the Comptroller
und Auditor General of India in relation to persons serving in the
Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the President hereby makes the
following rules further to amend the Central Civil Services
(Classification, Control and Appel) rules 1965 namely—

1. (I) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) (SecondAmendment) Rules, 2014.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Central Civil Services (Classification. Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules)

(a) In rule I5, for sub-rules 2A, 3 and 4, the following sub-rules shall be substituted, namely: —

3) (a) In every case where it ta
necessary to consult the Commission, the Disciplinary Authority shall
forward or cause to be forwarded to the Commission for its advice:

(i) a copy of the report of the
Inquiring Authority together with its own tentative reasons for
disagreement, if any, with the findings of Inquiring Authority on any
article of charge; and

(ii) comments of Disciplinary Authority
on the representation of the Government servant on the Inquiry report
and disagreement note, if any and all the cue records of the inquiry
proceedings

(b) The Disciplinary Authority shah
forward or cause to be forwarded a copy of the advice of the Commission
received under clause (a) to the Government savant, who shall be
required to submit, if he so desires, his written representation or
submission to the Disciplinary Authority within fifteen days, on the
advice of the Commission

(4) The Disciplinary Authority shall
consider the representation under sub-rule (2) and/ or clause (b) of
sub-rule (3), if any, submitted by the Government servant and record its
findings before proceeding further in the matter as specified in
sub-rules (5) and (6).

(5) If the Disciplinary Authority having
regard to its findings on all or any of the articles of charge is of
the opinion the any of the penalties specified in clauses (I) to (iv) of
rule 11 should be imposed on the Government servant, it shall,
notwithstanding anything contained in rule 16, make an order imposing
such penalty.

(6) If the Disciplinary Authority having
regard to its findings on ail or any of the articles of charge and on
the basis of the evidence adduced during the inquiry Is of the opinion
that any of the penalties specified in clauses (V) to (ix) of rule 11
should be imposed on the Government servant, it shall make an order
imposing such penalty and it shall not be necessary to give the
Government savant any opportunity of making representation on the
penalty proponed to be imposed.”;

(b) In rule 16,—

(i) in sub-rule (I),-

(A) for the words, brackets and figure “sub-rule (3)”, the words, brackets and figure ‘sub-rule (5)” shall be substituted;

(B) for clauses (d) and (e), the following clauses shah be substituted; namely: —

“(d) Consulting the Commission where
such consultation is necessary. The Disciplinary Authority shall forward
or cause to be forwarded a copy of the advice of the Commission to the
Government servant, who shall be required to submit, if he so desires,
his written representation or submission on the advice of the
Commission, to the Disciplinary Authority within fifteen days; and
(e) recording a finding on each imputation or misconduct or misbehavior.”

(ii) in sub-rule (2) for clauses (vi) and (vii), the following clauses shall be substituted,

“(vi) representation, if any, of the Government servant on the advice of the Commission:
(vii) the findings on each imputation of misconduct or misbehavior; and
(viii) the orders on the case together with the reasons therefor.;

(C) In rule 17, the words “and also a copy of the advice, if any, given by the Commission,” shall be deleted;

(d) In rule 19, in the second proviso,
after the words “where such consultation ta necessary”, the words “and
the Government servant has been given an opportunity of representing
against the advice of the Commission.” shall be added;.

(e) In rule 27, in sub-rule (2), in the
proviso, in clause (i) alter the words “where such consultation is
necessary” the words “and the government servant has been given an
opportunity of representing against the advice of the Commission,” shall
be added:

(f) In rule 29, in sub-ruIe (1) in the
first proviso, after the words “where such consultation is necessary”.
the words“ and the Government servant has been given an opportunity of
representing against the advice of the Commission shall be added:

(g) In rule 29-A, in the proviso, after
the words “where such consultation is necessary”, the words “and the
Government servant has been given an opportunity of representing against
the advice of the Commission.” shall be added;

Parenthood is a gift of god. Thanks to the development in medical
sciences, childless couples can now opt for surrogate pregnancies. If
women employees of Central Government organizations opt for surrogate
pregnancies, can they claim maternity leave?

Women employees of Central Government
establishments are given Maternity leave for a period of 180 days and
male employees are given Paternity Leave for a period of 15 days if they
choose to adopt babies. At present, there is no leave entitlements for
parents of the surrogate child.

Let’s see what the Indian medical Research Council has to say about couples who choose to have babies through surrogate mothers.

Surrogacy: General Considerations

A child born through surrogacy must be adopted by the
genetic (biological) parents unless they can establish through genetic
(DNA) fingerprinting (of which the records will be maintained in the
clinic) that the child is theirs.Guidelines for ART Clinics in India
ICMR/NAMS

Surrogacy by assisted conception should
normally be considered only for patients for whom it would be physically
or medically impossible/undesirable to carry a baby to term.

Payments to surrogate mothers should
cover all genuine expenses associated with the pregnancy. Documentary
evidence of the financial arrangement for surrogacy must be available.
The ART centre should not be involved in this monetary aspect.

Advertisements regarding surrogacy
should not be made by the ART clinic. The responsibility of finding a
surrogate mother, through advertisement or otherwise, should rest with
the couple, or a semen bank.

A surrogate mother should not be over 45
years of age. Before accepting a woman as a possible surrogate for a
particular couple’s child, the ART clinic must ensure (and put on
record) that the woman satisfies all the testable criteria to go through
a successful full-term pregnancy.

A relative, a known person, as well as a
person unknown to the couple may act as a surrogate mother for the
couple. In the case of a relative acting as a surrogate, the relative
should belong to the same generation as the women desiring the
surrogate.

A prospective surrogate mother must be
tested for HIV and shown to be seronegative for this virus just before
embryo transfer. She must also provide a written certificate that (a)
she has not had a drug intravenously administered into her through a
shared syringe, (b) she has not undergone blood transfusion; and (c) she
and her husband (to the best of her/his knowledge) has had no extramarital relationship in the last six months.

(This is to ensure that the person would
not come up with symptoms of HIV infection during the period of
surrogacy.) The prospective surrogate mother must also declare that she
will not use drugs intravenously, and not undergo blood transfusion
excepting of blood obtained through a certified blood bank.